The House of Representatives’ Committee have found a hidden account that belongs to Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
This information was brought to light when an investigation into all joint venture agreements and production-sharing contracts in the oil and gas industry since 1990.
The ad hoc committee chaired by the Chairman, Rules and Business, is probing the structure and accountability of the joint venture Businesses and Production Sharing Contracts of the NNPC
An official of the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Chize Peters made this known before the Mr Abubakar Fulata-led Adhoc committee probing into the issue.
“These accounts are operated by NNPCL. Yes, it’s not run by the accountant general office. The accounts are domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria, we are not the owners. The proceeds of agreements come to the federation accounts. But we will endeavour to get the necessary documents,” Peters added.
A committee member, Mr. Mark Gbillah, was enraged by the development and accused NNPCL of acting as what he called a “quasi-government” on its own.
He said, “So you’re saying that there’s a separate cash call account that even the accountant general has no access to. This is a serious issue, this committee needs to look into it. NNPCL seems to be operating as a quasi-government on its own.”
Fulata then issued a directive directing Mr. Melee Kyari, the group managing director, to appear before the committee and provide an explanation of the situation.
The Jigawa-born lawmaker further directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to submit details of the joint venture cash calls accounts domiciled in the apex bank at the hearing attended by officials of Total Energy, Shell Petroleum Company and Chevron oil companies.
Fulata said that he would not hesitate to use the constitutional authority granted to the national assembly to order their arrest if the head of any government or corporate agency or businesses, such as Seplat oil and gas and Newcross oil and gas, failed to come before the committee.
